Russia make sweeping changes

Russia have made eight changes for Sunday’s World Cup Pool C clash with Ireland in Rotorua following their 53-17 thumping by Italy.

Denis Simplikevich will make his Test debut on the right wing, becoming the seventh player to take his international bow in the tournament.

Northampton’s Vasily Artemyev starts at full-back while Melbourne Rebel Adam Byrnes is included in the second row.

The side selected to face Ireland has 110 less caps than the team that started against Italy.

Team: V Artemyev; D Simplikevich, A Kuzin, S Trishin, V Ostroushko; K Rachkov, A Yanyushkin (capt); S Popov, V Tsnobiladze, A Khrokin, D Antonov, A Byrnes, A Fatakhov, A Garbuzov, V Gresev.

Replacements: E Matveev, I Prishchepenko, A Travkin, A Voytov, A Bykanov, M Sidorov, M Babaev.